The Class / Grade System

For the 2006 – 2007 school year, Atlas students will be divided into three classes: the Preparatory Class (grades 3 – 5), the Grammar Class (grades 6 – 8), and the Advanced Grammar Class (high school). Although the three classes are typically equivalent to a range of grade levels, students who perform especially well or especially poorly will be placed in the class most appropriate to their maturity and skill level. Therefore, a student who has not mastered reading, writing, and basic arithmetic would be placed in the Preparatory Class, despite the fact that he is twelve years old and would normally be in sixth grade. A student who understands the basic grammar of Latin and Hebrew and has done Algebra would be placed at the Advanced Grammar Class even if he is only eleven years old.

The purpose of this system is to provide the maximum flexibility for boys who learn at different speeds. We have no wish to slow quicker students by forcing them into a class that would be too easy, nor do we have any wish to try to, as it were, build a house upon a weak foundation in boys who have not yet mastered the basics.

There should be no cause, however, for consternation among parents whose sons appear to be slightly behind. This system is not wooden, and there is no requirement that boys stay in a class for a set number of years. Boys may advance as soon as they have mastered the material. Teachers will work closely with students and parents to ensure that the boys graduate in a timely manner.

The Preparatory Class

The preparatory class is intended to prepare boys for the difficult task of learning. Aside from the regular class material, these boys are learning how to work independently as well as other basic classroom skills. Once boys have proven themselves in these areas, they will be ready to go to the Grammar class.


The Grammar Class

Teaching with a broad brush may excite an interest in a subject for a student, but without the details he will rarely be able to use his enthusiasm. Therefore, as students master the particulars and learn their significance, teachers will be ruthless in pointing out every missed jot or tittle, macron or accent. Once students have mastered these details, they will have taken the first step in learning how to make things beautiful with them.

As the students begin to do more independent work, they will be required to present this material to their teacher and fellow classmates. Students will regularly read aloud essays, stories, or poems they have written and frequently recite scripture, poetry, and their own compositions completely by memory. We believe that stage fright is a very ugly thing in grown men and wish to train it out of them while they are still very young.

The Advanced Grammar Class

Boys in the Advanced Grammar class are viewed as being in the finishing stages of their grammar education. Boys at this stage focus their attentions on continuing to improve the beauty of their writings, conversations, arguments, and presentations for the benefit of others. These students are also given significant amounts of work varying in difficulty from time to time and are expected to bear their burdens cheerfully. Students in this class will pursue studies in advanced mathematics and sciences. It is our goal for Greek and Anglo Saxon to be the culmination of a student’s language studies, as Latin and Hebrew will be phased out of the curriculum as separate classes and integrated into the main humanities program.

While Advanced Grammar students will continue to develop their ability to analyze texts thoughtfully and respond helpfully, we emphasize the need for them to use these abilities for others. Knowledge is never an end in itself, and as these students reach the end of their grammar education, it will be required of them to use the abilities and gifts that they are growing for the service of their neighbors. Tests and quizzes here, more than anywhere else will quite often be used to stretch the abilities of each boy. Questions will be asked that have not been covered in class or other readings, requiring a level of creativity and thoughtfulness to draw conclusions and make wise connections.